District Court Judge

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT DISTRICT COURT JUDGE - PAGE 2

The federal appeals court in Chicago has sent a legal dispute over ownership of a 123-year-old Lake Michigan shipwreck back to a U.S. District Court judge for further proceedings. The three-judge appeals court panel wants Judge Ilana Rovner to hear additional evidence to determine whether the wreck of the Seabird, a side-wheel steamboat that burned and sank in 1868, is embedded in the lake bottom. The appeals court also wants Rovner to take another look at the constitutionality of a 1987 federal law giving states jurisdiction over historic and abandoned shipwrecks.

Ofelia Palabrica of Niles announces the engagement of her daughter Marianne, daughter of the late Roberto Palabrica, to Russell Torres, son of Ernest and Jan Torres of Wakefield, R.I. The future bride received a bachelor's degree from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. She is a financial planner for Diamond Technology Partners Inc., a digital consulting company in Chicago. Her mother is a corporate controller for Accurate Products Inc. in Chicago. The future groom received a bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H. He is president and co-founder of UAccess, a direct marketing company in Chicago.

Ann Claire Williams, a district court judge for almost 15 years, was sworn in Friday as the first African-American--man or woman--to sit on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. Williams, whose nomination breezed through the U.S. Senate in November, becomes the third woman on what is essentially the court of last resort for most federal cases in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. "As I assume this new position, I hope to uphold the same standards that I followed as a district court judge: to do justice to the rich and the poor, young and the old, and people of all races and colors who look to our special and unique system of justice," Williams said.

After a pep talk of sorts from a U.S. District Court judge, a jury deliberated for an eighth day Tuesday without reaching a verdict in the fraud trial of Cicero Town President Betty Loren-Maltese and seven others. At their request, jurors were given a transcript Tuesday morning of the trial testimony of a key government witness--Gene Berkes, a former town assistant controller, who said he repeatedly warned Loren-Maltese about skyrocketing insurance costs. As U.S. District Senior Judge John Grady handed the transcript to the jurors, he thanked them for their hard work during the three-month trial.

By Wade Rawlins GREENSBORO, N.C. May 11 (Reuters) - The judge in the campaign finance abuse trial of former Senator John Edwards rejected his lawyers' arguments that the prosecution had failed to prove the case against the one-time presidential candidate and refused to dismiss the case. Responding to a defense motion, U.S. District Court Judge Catherine Eagles said the court was satisfied that federal prosecutors had presented sufficient evidence on all charges to proceed with the case.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - A Hong Kong court on Wednesday agreed to postpone the start of a money laundering trial for Hong Kong businessman Carson Yeung, the owner of English football club Birmingham City, given a need to gather further evidence. Among the charges the tycoon is facing is alleged money laundering including "dealing with property known or believed to represent proceeds of indictable offence" of more than HK$720 million ($92.4 million). District court judge Douglas Yau agreed to defer the trial date to April 29 next year following a request by Yeung's lawyer to gather more evidence and better prepare their defence, saying that Yeung had been "living in a state of limbo".

A U.S. District Court judge in Hammond on Wednesday postponed a decision on a plan to erase nearly $7 million owed by Calumet Township, but hinted he may rule Lake County, Ind., in contempt for not paying the debt. Judge James T. Moody gave attorneys for the Indiana State Tax Board and the Lake County Council until Friday to file their final motions before he decides if the county must find a way to pay $6.7 million owed by the township's poor relief fund, which served the Gary area.

The U.S. Court of Appeals here has upheld the influence-peddling conviction of former Chicago Transit Authority board member Howard Medley. A three-judge appeals panel rejected arguments that jurors were misled and that Medley was a victim of overzealous prosecutors. Medley, 63, was convicted last year on charges that he accepted $25,000, under the guise of a real estate "finder's fee," from the chairman of the now-defunct Metropolitan Petroleum Co. in return for attempting to short-circuit an internal CTA investigation of the company.

Services for Harold Marovitz, 86, a retired attorney and former boxing judge, will be held at 10 a.m. Friday in the chapel at 5206 N. Broadway. Mr. Marovitz died Tuesday in his North Side home. He retired from law practice last year. He was a lawyer for 63 years and was a founding partner of the Loop law firm of Marovitz & Marovitz, which he began with his brother, Abraham Lincoln Marovitz, now a senior U.S. District Court judge. Their younger brother, Sydney, who died in April, later became a partner.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Supreme Court justice expressed concerns on Monday about how a federal judge required plaintiffs' lawyers to take race and gender into account in picking their legal team. The court declined to review the case in question, a challenge to a class action settlement that resolved antitrust claims against Sirius XM Radio Inc. Justice Samuel Alito wrote an opinion describing as "highly unusual" a district court judge's practice of ensuring that the lawyers who represented the plaintiffs have staff working on the case who reflected the race and gender of the Sirius customers.